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Sunday, 09 September 2012

Fuji Announces 'Sweet Spot' X-E1

Fuji has been on a real roll lately, so anything it doesis bound to be interesting.

So, Goldie, the X10 is just a bit too...point'n'shooty? The X100 is a bit too much of a "Repleica," too fixed-prime-lens-y? The X-Pro1 (even with B&H's current $300 off deal) too fat-wallety?

Well, Fuji's been calibrating the sweet spot for ya, Blondilocks. Vectoring in from above and below on the ideal compromise. Honing their can't-seem-to-miss chops. Slightly smaller than the X-Pro1, even handsomer, usefully cheaper, with the same sensor and the same controls, more or less, yet with a pure EVF à la the NEX-7, the new X-E1 is poised to be just right as a backup for X-Pro1 users or, well, the "just right" option for anyone left on this blue orb whose GAS button Fuji hasn't tweaked yet. And the Fuji guys promise that the image quality is the same as an X-Pro1.

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Featured Comment by Mark Cotter: "So, after months of dithering about whether to get the X100 (like the idea of the prime lens) or the X10 (like the idea of having a bit of a zoom), rejecting the X-Pro1 as too expensive even though it's the most lovely, and finally deciding to go with the X10, Fuji announce the camera that does hit all the right notes for me! Yay! Just need to hang on a bit for some reviews and to see some images from it and then decide on lens(es)...."

Mike replies:But by that time there will be another new camera out. Only you can make it end....

Response from David Dyer-Bennet: "I've been telling people since the 1980s that the best time to buy a new computer is six months from now. It appears to be true of cameras these days too!"

I currently have 2 Canon DSLR's, an OM-D m4/3, and two or three P&S cameras in my office, and this camera still pulls at me like a wayward comet caught in a gravity well... I wonder if my wife would notice it if it suddenly joined the crowd? Hmmmmm....

I'm watching this one with interest - while I like my NEX7 very much (used the vast majority of the time with OM Zuikos) the X-E1 is very appealing, not the least because of the traditional control layout. If they'd release a native 35mm-e it would quite possibly push me over the edge...

Damn you Fuji! Just as I had finally decided that with the OM-D, the time is now right to get my first mirrorless camera and potentially ditch my DSLR. Last week I was trying to decide the colour (silver) and lenses (pana 20mm f1.7, maybe the oly 45mm as well). And now this comes along and I'm back in square one.

So what to do now? Stick my decision and get the Olympus? Or wait for a bit longer?

Walking round a general electronics and white goods store here in the UK - Currys actually and next to the dishwashers were the cameras.
Mostly uninteresting (to me) P&S but I wanted to play with a D3200 (light, hi res) in case I might want one as a back up…
What surprised me was among the 'dross' were a G12, an X10 and the NEX-5 something.
I have a G10 and the G12 does nothing for me. Since I bought an S90 I hardly use the G10, I tend to lend it to my son. I really liked the G10 when I got it but now I kind of feel I don't need it. The NEX-5 surprised me as it just looks wrong - unbalanced and clumsy but feels absolutely right in the hand and I can really see why Mike lusts after the NEX-7. I sort of do too.
But the X-10 is an absolute charmer - feels perfect to use and put a smile on my face just to look at and play with the switches. A gem and I want one. I might just keep it on my desk and never actually use it but I want one!

I did quite like the D3200 but it might look a but silly with the 70-200 plus tc2.0 on it. And I waiting to see what happens at Photokina - D600 price mostly. Oh, and I'm in the middle of buying a house.
I suppose I could talk to my wife about a smaller house and a few more lenses...

I've an X-pro1 and am considering the X-E1 with kit zoom as a '2nd' camera. I can probably learn to tolerate an EVF. Haven't used such on my X-pro1 as I'm partial to the OVF

There has been a fair amount of inter-webs controversy about the X-trans sensor RAW file conversion challenges. I'm not convinced that the 'problem' is anywhere near as significant as some have passionately maintained.

All of that having been said, the X-pro1 OOC jpegs have vastly moderated my RAW only fanaticism. Ken Tanaka's thoughts on OOC jpegs seem to apply well to the X-trans output with the Fuji film 'styles'.

I really love the design, can I say a Purist's camera. Where the Pro's price point kept me at arms length this is with in reach. I love any machine that gives me instant access to exposure compensation that I can "feel", even if it is only two stops. Owning an x10, this would be the perfect step up.

I reckon that what we need is a Leica clone... In the olden days there were many of them, from Russia, Germany, Japan even Hong Kong...

The problem with Leica is that they are like jewellery (with a price to match)...

As an example, there used to be a camera called a Konica... Nowhere near as good as a Leica, nowhere near as expensive as a Leica, but very practical, capable and with enough to make it a really useful tool for someone interested in making/taking photographs at every level of skill.

I never owned a Konica, but I did own a Yashica, from the same era, and it was not possible to actually comprehend the language used in the manual...

But then you didn't need to.

So I reckon that the first company to produce with a full frame rangefinder camera, that uses 'm' lenses and doesn't require a manual, will take all the prizes.

The girlfriend swears by her X10; in fact she has more or less parked her Canon SLR since she bought the little Fuji about a year ago. I have so far kept well away from mirrorless cameras (despite occasionally flirting with the idea of acquiring a Panasonic and a single, fine piece of glass), but this one really hit some sort of sensory sweet spot for me. I feel an expensive sortie on the way.

I have an X-Pro 1 and this looks like it might fix some of my gripes** with it. While I applaud the hybrid viewfinder innovation it's implementation just didn't sit quite right. I also use a Panasonic M4/3 and it's high refresh EVF has become a joy to use, so on seeing this I'm kind of wishing I'd waited now. *sigh*.

Mike, i think you are wrong that this will become the backup camera. *If* its EVF is anywhere close to the best there currently is, I think this camera would push the X-Pro1 to being my backup.

Oh and Siu, that is not just you, I had the same initial thought. I wish they'd put the flash there at the front to visually balance it. But hey, it's change, we'll get used to it as they say. ;-)

** I still love the camera for its flawed beauty and need to get the AF firmware fix in place to see how that helps too.

This looks like a great addition to the line, but an enormous part of the appeal of my X100 is the too fun viewfinder, which is one of the very best ever put into a camera. My Leica and Canon P sit alone and ignored now that I can get my (admittedly faked) viewfinder kicks in digital.

I was thinking when I saw the XTrans pattern (with it's interesting rotational symmetries) that some signal processing otaku at Fuji had come up with a very clever demosaicing algorithm to make use of those symmetries. It seems not.

The Chromasoft blog had several posts showing how demosaicing in his product (Photoraw) along with dcraw, Silkypix and Lightroom and had some problems.

Hi Kevin, I read the same article, but it's wrong to read too much into one issue which requires intense pixel peeping without also looking at some of the advantages.

All Bayer sensors require an AA filter and produce other artifacts. It's a trade off of course, but the images I get from my Xpro1 are overall better than those from my D7000 and D700, especially in terms of shadow recovery and lack of moire.

Something to do with the sampling technique also seems to reduce noise (more green pixels per sample area?) without such obvious smearing.

Also, there is very little need to add significant USM, which means no halos which seem so prominent in most digital cameras. In fact there are none at all in the OOC JPEGs.

There are other noticeable issues related to the property noticed in the article, but the effect in prints is mostly negligable. It's just a shame that Adobe decided not to bother too much, since I am a Lightroom user and there is no convenient way to use other RAW software from within LR.

QUOTE (We regret that we don't have affiliations with Amazon Italy or France.)UNQUOTE

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